Parley Parker Pratt (1807-1857)
}} Famous leader of Latter-Day Saint movement, an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, missionary, pioneer and martyr in Arkansas. Vital Stats * Father: Jared Pratt (1769-1839) - * Mother: Charity Dickinson (1776-1849) - * 1807-Apr-12 : Birth at Burlington, Oswego Co, New York, USA * 1827-Sep-09 : Marriage (1) in Canaan, New York to Thankful Halsey (1797-1837) * 1837-May 14 : Marriage (2) in Nauvoo Illinois to Mary Ann Frost (1808-1891) * 1847 : Took family to Salt Lake Valley with Daniel Spencer Wagon Company * 1852 : Led wagon company of immigrants to Salt Lake Valley * 1855 : Led wagon company of immigrants to Salt Lake Valley * 1857-May-13 : Killed in Van Buren, Crawford Co, Arkansas by assassins while on missionary journey Biography Parley P. Pratt was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt. He was a missionary, poet, religious writer and longtime editor of the religious publication The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star. He explored, surveyed, and built and maintained the first road for public transportation in scenic Parley's Canyon in Salt Lake City, which is named in his honor. Parley Pratt was born in Burlington, New York, the son of Jared Pratt (Canaan, New York, 25 November 1769 – Detroit, Michigan, 5 November 1839) and wife (m. 7 July 1799) Charity Dickinson (Bolton, New York, 24 February 1776 – St. Joseph, Missouri, 20 May 1849), a descendant of Anne Hutchinson. He married Thankful Halsey in Canaan, New York on 9 September 1827. Disciples of Christ The young couple settled near Cleveland, Ohio on a plot of "wilderness" where Parley had constructed a crude home. In Ohio, Pratt became a member of the Reformed Baptist Society, also called "Disciples of Christ", through the preaching of Sidney Rigdon. Pratt soon decided to take up the Disciples ministry as a profession, and sold his property. Conversion to Mormonism While traveling to visit family in western New York, Pratt had the opportunity to read a copy of the Book of Mormon owned by a Baptist deacon. Convinced of its authenticity, he traveled to Palmyra, New York and spoke to Hyrum Smith at the Smith home. He was baptized in Seneca Lake by Oliver Cowdery on or about 1 September 1830, formally joining the Latter Day Saint church (Mormons). He was also ordained to the office of an elder in the church. Continuing on to his family's home, he introduced his younger brother, Orson Pratt, to Mormonism and baptized him on 19 September 1830. Arriving in Fayette, New York in October 1830, Pratt met Joseph Smith and was asked to join a missionary group assigned to preach to the Native American tribes on the Missouri frontier. During the trip west, he and his companions stopped to visit Sidney Rigdon, and were instrumental in converting Rigdon and approximately 130 members of his congregation within two to three weeks. First trip to Missouri In early 1833, Pratt served as a missionary in Illinois. He then went to Jackson County, Missouri, where through the summer he headed the School of the Elders, a gathering of about 60 men who studied religious and secular subjects, similar to the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. In the fall of 1833, he served as head of the Mormon Branch number 8 in Jackson County and as a leader in the Mormon militia. He was among those Latter Day Saints driven into Clay County, Missouri by mob violence. In February 1834, Pratt and Lyman Wight headed back to Kirtland to report on the events in Missouri to Joseph Smith. From Kirtland, Pratt traveled with Smith in Pennsylvania and western New York, preaching the gospel and also trying to recruit people to serve in Zion's Camp. Zions Camp Participant One of the most interesting episodes in the early history of LDS Church was the march of Zion's Camp (1834). The members of the Church in Missouri were being persecuted, and the Prophet Joseph made it a matter of prayer and received a revelation on February 24, 1834. The Lord instructed the Prophet to assemble at least one hundred young and middle-aged men and to go to the land of Zion, or Missouri. (See D&C 130:19–34.) Zion’s Camp, a group of approximately one hundred and fifty men, gathered at Kirtland, Ohio, in the spring of 1834 and marched to Jackson County, Missouri. By the time they reached Missouri, the camp had increased to approximately two hundred men. After Zion's Camp broke up, Pratt rejoined his wife, Thankful, who had remained in Clay County while he had gone to report on conditions to Smith. While working as a day laborer, Pratt served on the Missouri High Council. Thankful had run up large debts in Pratt's absence, and when he returned with her to Ohio some felt this was an attempt to flee his creditors and attacked him for it. 1835 move to Ohio Pratt then settled in New Portage, Ohio where he was the leader of the group of Latter Day Saints there. Here in 1837 his first wife, Thankful, died. On May 14, 1837, Pratt married his second wife, Mary Ann Frost Stearns (1808-1891), a widow with a daughter. The marriage was performed by Frederick G. Williams. In 1835, Pratt entered the leadership of the early Latter Day Saint movement when he was selected as one of the original Quorum of Twelve Apostles. While on a mission to the British Isles in 1839, Pratt edited the newly created periodical, Millennial Star. While presiding over the church's branches and interests in New England and the mid-Atlantic states, Pratt published a periodical entitled The Prophet from his headquarters in New York City. After serving as a missionary in New York City, Pratt returned to church headquarters in Missouri in 1838. He was arrested in November 1838 along with Joseph Smith and held in prison in Richmond and then Columbia until he escaped on July 4, 1839. Plural Marriage After his escape from jail, he joined the main body of Mormon Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. There in 1843 and 1844 he joined the practice of polygamous marriage. After the death of Joseph Smith, Pratt and his family were among the Latter Day Saints who emigrated to what would become Utah Territory; they continued as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) under the direction of Brigham Young. Pratt helped establish the refugee settlements and fields at both Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah, Iowa. He personally led a pioneer company along the Mormon Trail to the Salt Lake Valley. Migration to Utah In 1849, Pratt was appointed one of the justices of the anticipated state of Deseret. He later served in the legislature of the provisional state of Deseret beginning in 1849. During this same time, as one of the seven members of the Quorum of the Twelve in Utah, he was among those who oversaw the division of Salt Lake City into wards and the organization of other wards in Utah. Sometime in the mid-1850s, working with George D. Watt, Pratt helped develop the Deseret alphabet. In 1854, Pratt went to San Francisco, California to preside over the Pacific Mission of the LDS Church. In 1856, Pratt served as chaplain of the Utah Territorial Legislature. Death in Arkansas In 1856, Pratt went on a mission to the eastern United States. At that time, trouble were brewing in Pratt's life due to the actions of Hector McLean. McLean was the estranged husband of one of Pratt's plural wives, Eleanor Jane McComb McLean. Pratt had met Eleanor McLean in San Francisco, where he presided over a church mission. In San Francisco, Eleanor had joined the LDS Church and had also had her oldest sons baptized. Hector rejected Mormonism and opposed his wife's membership in the church. The dispute over the church led to the collapse of their marriage. Fearing that Eleanor would abscond to Utah Territory with their children, Hector sent his sons and daughter to New Orleans, Louisiana, to live with their grandparents. Eleanor followed the children to New Orleans, where she lived with them for three months at her parents' house. Eventually, she and the children left for Utah Territory; via Texas, she arrived in Salt Lake City on September 11, 1855. She worked in Pratt's home as a schoolteacher. On November 14, 1855, she and Pratt underwent a "celestial marriage" sealing ceremony in the Endowment House. She was the twelfth woman to be sealed to Pratt. For religious and cultural reasons, Eleanor considered herself unmarried at the time of her sealing to Pratt, but she had not legally divorced from Hector. Hector pressed criminal charges, accusing Pratt of assisting in the kidnapping of his children. Pratt managed to evade him and the legal charges, but was finally arrested in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in May 1857. Pratt and Eleanor McLean were charged with theft of the clothing of McLean's children. (The laws of that time did not recognize the kidnapping of children by a parent as a crime.) Tried before Judge John B. Ogden, Pratt was acquitted because of a lack of evidence and Judge Ogden's own feelings after interviewing Eleanor. Judge Ogden sympathized with Eleanor and Pratt, because he was so disgusted by Hector's drinking and wife-beating. Shortly after being secretly released, on May 13, 1857, Pratt was shot and stabbed by Hector on a farm northeast of Van Buren, Arkansas. He died two and a half hours later from loss of blood. As Pratt was bleeding to death, a farmer asked what he had done to provoke the attack. Pratt said, "He accused me of taking his wife and children. I did not do it. They were oppressed, and I did for them what I would do for the oppressed any where." Pratt was buried near Alma, Arkansas, despite his personal desire to be buried in Utah Territory. He is buried in Alma Cemetery, Fine Springs, Crawford Co, Arkansas. Family Life & Marriages Pratt practiced plural marriage and had 12 wives, 30 children, and 266 grandchildren. In 2011, Pratt's living descendants were estimated to number 30,000 to 50,000. Pratt's constant missions left him little time with his family. The longest period after he started practicing polygamy that he was able to remain with his family were the 18 months following his return from serving a mission to Chile. According to the authors Terry L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, Pratt's "highest happiness was to be surrounded by a teeming domestic world of multiple wives and offspring". In the fall of 1853, Pratt had seven living wives. These wives were: Elizabeth Brotherton (1817-1897). Married Pratt July 24, 1844. They adopted one child. Mary Wood (1818-1898). Married Pratt September 9, 1844. Four children including Helaman Pratt. Hannahette Snively (1812-1898). Married Pratt November 2, 1844. Three children. Belinda Marden (1820-1894). Married Pratt November 20, 1844. Five children. Sarah Houston (1822-1886). Married Pratt October 15, 1844. Four children. Phoebe Elizabeth Soper (1823-1887). Married Pratt February 8, 1846. Three children. Ann Agatha Walker (1829-1908). Married Pratt April 28, 1847. Five children. Agatha ran a millinery business in Salt Lake City. Other wives of Pratt: Martha Monks (1825-). Married Pratt April 28, 1847. One child who died shortly after birth. After this Martha abandoned Pratt in early 1849 and moved to California.60 Keziah Downes (1812-1876). Married Pratt December 27, 1853. They did not have any children, although she lived in the same house as five of Pratt's other wives and helped them in raising their children.59 Eleanor Jane McComb (1817-1874). Married Pratt November 14, 1855. Marriage to Thankful Halsey His first wife, Thankful Halsey (1797-1837), died following childbirth in March 1837. Thankful was a widow when she married Pratt and was ten years older than him. # Parley Parker Pratt (1837-1897) - Oldest son of Elder Pratt, he would live a great many years in fulfillment of special prophecy given to his father at a time of great personal trial. Marriage to Mary Ann Frost On May 14, 1837, Pratt married his second wife, Mary Ann Frost Stearns (1808-1891), a widow with a daughter. The marriage was performed by Frederick G. Williams. Mary Ann was a native of Bethel, Maine (part of Massachusetts until 1820) whose first relative to join the church was Patty Bartlett Sessions, later a prominent midwife in Utah. Mary Ann was baptized by David W. Patten. She had come to Kirtland as a widow in 1836. Joseph Smith later condemned Latter Day Saints for "marrying in five or six weeks, or even in two or three months, after the death of their companion." Mary Ann and Pratt at times demonstrated a deep companionship in their marriage, most fully shown by her joining her husband in prison in Missouri. After Pratt began practicing plural marriage, they became estranged. In 1843, Mary Ann Pratt married Joseph Smith, the church's founder. That same year, Smith married at least 17 other women—including Mary Ann's sister, Olive Grey Frost. Olive would marry Smith's successor, Brigham Young, after Smith's death in 1844. Pratt made several attempt to get Mary Ann to join him in traveling west in 1846 and 1847, but after spending the winter of 1846–47 in an abandoned Nauvoo, she chose to return to Maine. Pratt provided her with clothes and money upon her return to Maine. She received some of the proceeds from the sale of Pratt's home to a Roman Catholic priest; his Nauvoo home is to this day used as a residence for Catholic priests. In 1852, Mary Ann came to Utah Territory, but she and Pratt did not see eye to eye on how to raise their children. Mary Ann received a divorce decree issued by Brigham Young in 1853. Mary Ann then settled in what is now Pleasant Grove, Utah. Mary Ann would work as a midwife, remain in the LDS Church and be a leading advocate for Mormon women against the attacks of those opposed to polygamy. See had one child with her former husband, Nathan Sterns (1809-1833) - a daughter. After his death. Mary Ann and her daughter became a family with Parley who had one young son from his first marriage.Children of Mary Ann Frost and Nathan Stearns are: # Mary Ann Stearns (1833-1912) - md to Winters. b. 06 Apr 1833, Bethel, Oxford, Maine, d. 04 Apr 1912, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Children of Mary Ann Frost and Parley Parker Pratt are: # Nathan Pratt (1838-1843) - b. 31 Aug 1838, Far West, Caldwell, Missouri, d. 12 Dec 1843, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. # Olivia Thankful Pratt (1841-1906) - b. 02 Jun 1841, Manchester, Linconshire, England, d. 12 Jun 1906, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Utah. Her birthdate indicates that Mary Ann had joined Parley on his famous 1840 mission to England. # Susan Pratt (1843-1844) - b. 07 Apr 1843, Steamer, "Maid of Iowa", Mississippi Riv., d. 28 Aug 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. # Moroni Llewellyn Pratt (1844-1913) - b. 07 Dec 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, IL, d. 18 Apr 1913, Provo, Utah County, UT. See also History of Mary Ann Frost - Jared Pratt Family Association. See also History of Mary Ann Frost - Driggs Family Association. Marriage to Elizabeth Brotherton 3rd - Elizabeth Brotherton (1817-1897) was baptized in 1840 England by Brigham Young during his mission there. She and Parley married and they adopted one child together. Married Parley Parker Pratt, 24 Jun 1843, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. # Phebe Pratt (1845-) - adopted daughter (See 1850 US Census) See also History of Elizabeth Brotherton Marriage to Mary Wood 4th - Mary Wood (1818-1898) - Married Pratt September 9, 1844. # Helaman Pratt (1846-1909) - Mormon Pioneer of settlements in Utah and Mexico. Ancestor to US Presidential Candidates - George Wilcken Romney (1907-1995) and Mitt Romney. # Cornelia Pratt (1848-1899) - md. Apollos Driggs # Mary Wood Pratt (1853-1911) - md. Royal Sagers Young # Mathoni Wood Pratt (1856-1937) - md. Elizabeth Sheets Marriage to Hannahette Snively 5th - Hannahette Snively (1812-1898) . Married Pratt November 2, 1844. Three children. Children: # Alma Pratt (1845-1902) - # Lucy Pratt (1848-1916) - md Samuel Russell (1835-1896) # Henriette Pratt (1851-1918) - md Samuel Russell (1835-1896) Marriage to Belinda Marden 6th - Belinda Marden (1820-1894) . Married Pratt November 20, 1844. Five children. Daughter of John Marden and Rachel Shaw. Married Benjamin Abbott Hilton, 1839, Nashua, New Hampshire, later divorced. Married Parley Parker Pratt, 20 Nov 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois See also History of Belinda Marden Pratt - FindAGrave Children with Parley Pratt: # Nephi Pratt (1846-1910) - President of the LDS Church Northwestern States Mission for 8 years and also co-editor of the Improvement Era magazine of the church # Abinadi Pratt (1848-1914) - # Belinda Marden Pratt (1848-1893) - md Musser # Lehi Lee Pratt (1851-1905) - # Isabella Eleanor Pratt (1854-1912) - md Robison Marriage to Sarah Houston 7th - Sarah Houston (1822-1886) - Married Pratt October 15, 1844. Four children. Married Parley Parker Pratt, 15 Oct 1845, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. After his death she Married A. Louis Taussig, 15 Oct 1857. History - Sarah Houston was born 3 Aug 1822 in Stark County, Ohio. Her parents were James Houston and Mary Ettleman. James was of Irish descent and Mary of German descent. They were both born in Pennsylvania. The Houston family joined the Church in Ohio and later went to Nauvoo. It was in Nauvoo on the 15th of October 1845 that Sarah was married to Parley Parker Pratt, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith married them, for time and all eternity. She was the seventh wife married to Parley in polygamy. 4 Children with Parley: # Julia Houston Pratt (1847-1903) - md Gardner # Teancum Pratt (1852-1900) - # Sarah Elizabeth Pratt (1856-1891) - md King 2 children with A. Louis Taussig: # David Phillip Taussig (1861-1923) # William Taussig (1862-1948) Marriage to Phoebe Soper 8th - Phoebe Elizabeth Soper (1823-1887) Married Pratt February 8, 1846. Three children. Parley Parker Pratt and Phoebe Elizabeth Soper were married on 8 February 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. Phoebe Elizabeth Soper was born on 8 July 1823 in Hempstead Harbor, Queens, Long Island, New York, USA. She died on 17 September 1887 at the age of 64 in Provo, Utah, Utah, USA. Parley Parker Pratt and Phoebe Elizabeth Soper had the following children: # Mosiah Pratt (1850-1850) - was born on 26 February 1850 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA. He died on 26 March 1850 at the age of 0. # Omner Pratt (1851-1852) - was born on 30 November 1851 in Valparaiso, Chile. He died on 7 January 1852 at the age of 0. # Phoebe Soper Pratt (1853-1922) - was born on 19 May 1853 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA. She died on 13 October 1922 at the age of 69 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA. She was buried on 15 October 1922 in Provo, Utah, Utah, USA Marriage to Ann Walker 9th - Ann Agatha Walker (1829-1908). Married Pratt April 28, 1847. Five children. Agatha ran a millinery business in Salt Lake City. When Elders Parley P. Pratt, John Taylor and others completed their mission to England in 1841, Ann Agatha Walker was the one from her family to return with them to America. Ann Agatha Walker was 17 years old, and after this parting from her family, she never saw her mother in this life again. Daughter of William Gibson Walker and Mary Godwin Married - Parley Parker Pratt, 28 Apr 1847, Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska Children - Moroni Pratt, Evelyn Pratt, Moroni Walker Pratt, Malona Pratt, Agatha Pratt, Evelyn Pratt, Marion Pratt # Agatha Pratt (1848-1914) - md Joseph Harris Ridges (1827-1914) # Lona Pratt (1850-1913) - md Eldridge # Moroni Walker Pratt # Evelyn Pratt # Marion Pratt After his death she Married - Joseph Harris Ridges (1827-1914), 4 Mar 1860, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. He would also marry her oldest daughter from her prior marriage. # Louie Pratt Ridges (1861-1865) # Wilford Owen Ridges (1866-1935) Marriage to Martha Monks 10th - Martha Monks (1825-) - Married Pratt April 28, 1847. One child who died shortly after birth. After this Martha abandoned Pratt in early 1849 and moved to California. Marriage to Keziah Downes 11th - Keziah Downes (1812-1876) - Married Pratt December 27, 1853. They did not have any children, although she lived in the same house as five of Pratt's other wives and helped them in raising their children. Marriage to Jane McComb 12th - Eleanor Jane McComb (1817-1874) - Married Pratt November 14, 1855. They met while he was president of Western State Mission in San Francisco. Her estranged husband, Hecter McLean, would later assassinate Parley in Arkansas. (see biography above) Memorials * Gravesite of Parley Pratt - Grave site monument and history of his assassination. * Pratt explored, surveyed, and built the first public road in Parley's Canyon, Salt Lake City, which is named in his honor. * His escape from the Columbia Jail on July 4, 1839, has been commemorated in Columbia, Missouri, with a "freedom run" each Independence Day since the 1970s. Famous Descendants One of Pratt's grandsons, William King Driggs, was the father of the King Sisters. Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts governor (2003–07) and the 2012 Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency is one of Pratt's great-great-grandsons. One of Pratt's great-great-great-grandsons is Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and Ambassador to China, and an unsuccessful candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Famous Ancestors * Jared Pratt Immigrant Ancestors - List of famous early New England Immigrant forefathers. * Jared Pratt Family Ancestry - Royal Lineage of the Pratt Family. Vital Records 1850 US Federal Census Recorded at Utah County, Utah. * Parley P Pratt - m/43 - b:NY * Elizabeth Pratt - f/33 - b:England (3rd wife) * Phebe Pratt - f/5 - b:NY (adopted child) References * Parley P Pratt - YouTube Part1 - * Parley P Pratt - YouTube Part2 - * Jared Pratt Family Ancestry - Royal English Family Ancestry and famous descandants * Jared Pratt Immigrant Ancestors - Early New England Ancestral Connections * General Authorities of the LDS Church - Apostle of the LDS Church * - Wikipedia Biography * Histories of the Wives of Parley Pratt * Pratt Family Organization * Parley Pratt Data Page - Grandpa Bill's LDS General Authority Data Base * Collected Works of Parley P Pratt - Amazon Books - Autobiography, History of the Late Persecution, Key to the Science of Theology, Mormonism Unveiled, Voice of Warning, Angel of the Prairies, Several Remarkable Visions * Parley P Pratt, The Apostle Paul of Mormonism - Amazon Books * The Archer of Paradise -- A Biography of Parley P. Pratt - Amazon Books Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries Category:American Latter Day Saint hymnwriters Category:American Mormon missionaries in the United States Category:American murder victims Category:Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) Category:Apostles (LDS Church) Category:Converts to Mormonism from Restoration Movement denominations Category:Deaths from bleeding Category:Inventors of writing systems Category:Latter Day Saint martyrs Category:Members of the Council of Fifty Category:Members of the Utah Territorial Legislature Category:Mormon apologists Category:American Mormon missionaries in Chile Category:American Mormon missionaries in the United Kingdom Category:Mormon pioneers Category:Murdered missionaries Category:People from Burlington, New York Category:People murdered in Arkansas Category:Pratt–Romney family Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:19th-century American writers Category:Doctrine and Covenants people Category:Deaths by firearm in Arkansas Category:American general authorities (LDS Church) Category:19th-century American poets Category:Latter Day Saint poets Category:American people of English descent Category: Mormon pioneers of Missouri